April Fools and Other Nightmare Stories
by S. Snowflake
Summary: A oneshot and drabble collection taking place before, during, and after the movie. Jack and Sally pairing with some original characters too. Jump in and read any chapter you like. Nothing's chronological!
1. April Fools!

_**April Fools!**_

_-A Nightmare Before Christmas Story  
_

It was a chilly spring morning in the land of Halloween. The ghoulish citizens of Halloween Town were all feeling rather groggy and inattentive as they stood outside the City Hall after a full night of spooking and scaring.

"A meeting at this hour?" complained one of the four vampire brothers. All members of their quartet held a black parasol of sorts to shield themselves from the sun.

"Indeed," agreed a tall witch. She was one of the two residential witches along with her much shorter, portly, and stronger green-complexioned sister who stood next to her. "What is Jack thinking? We've had a long night of stirring up scares; we creatures of the night need our sleep!"

"Besides, Halloween is months away. What do we need a meeting on the first of April for anyway?" the smaller witch asked. A second later, a rag doll with chestnut red hair walked shyly into the crowd and looked around with a puzzled look in her eyes.

"There might be our answer," the taller witch whispered to her sister. She then called out, "Oh _Saaallyyy_…"

The rag doll Sally detested that voice. The witch sisters had come to be quite jealous of her newfound social standing as the sweetheart of Jack Skellington, the king of Halloween himself. That shrill call that they always used to address her seemed so artificially sweet that she was afraid of the possible hostility it held.

"Yes?" Sally asked the duo when she approached them.

"Ah dear," the taller witch said in the most fake manner possible. "You're so very close to Jack; well, naturally being his" She paused and cringed. "H-his…"

Sally finished her sentence, "Girlfriend?"

"Yes, _that_," grumbled the short witch. "We were just wondering if you might know why dear Jack is holding this meeting, Sally."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I don't know what all this is about either. He never mentioned a thing about it to me." Sally paused too, and thought about that statement. "He's been acting so very strange lately, like he's ready to laugh for no particular reason at all about something. He even cackles at odd times of the day and I don't have a clue why he would."

"Hmm, very strange," the short witch pondered before she noticed something. "What's that you have there, Sally?"

Sally realized that the witch was referring to the basket that she was holding. "Oh, that's just a little something for Jack." She blushed and smiled with infatuation about her love. "I think it will help him with whatever problem he's going through right now. It's my secret weapon, you could say."

"How very thoughtful of you…" the taller witch mumbled under her breath and clenched her old, wrinkled fist.

All of the sudden, the mayor of Halloween Town got onto his megaphone up in the rafters of the hall to announce something. It screeched loudly at first, but it was over soon enough thankfully. "BLAST IT…" the mayor's voice said, then he cleared his throat. "Ahem, attention Halloween Town! Jack has announced to me that the meeting is now in session. Please enter the town hall!"

Soon after that announcement, the twin doors swung opened up and a short, spinning top-like creature stood in the doorway. "Please, come inside my friends," the mayor concluded with his largest smile.

The citizens of Halloween all walked inside tiredly. Sally soon followed the lumbering crowd of monsters, leaving the witches behind her. "Well, nice chatting with you," she said politely.

"_Byyyye!"_ the witches chimed in unison. As soon as Sally entered the hall and was out of their sight, they both growled like dogs and got an uglier than ugly look upon their already hideous faces.

The corpse woman walked by with her grotesquely fat son on a leash ahead of her and her tall skinny corpse husband just behind her. She sighed at the witches, and muttered to them, "You girls really need to get over that."

* * *

Once everyone was seated inside the hall, the doors were closed and footsteps were heard echoing in the room. As the footsteps grew louder and more menacing, the crowd gradually quieted down and listened for the ghoul that was making such a delightful haunt. Once the air was more silent than the grave, the pumpkin king Jack leaped out of seemingly nowhere and landed on the stage. The crowd clapped for the tall, dapper skeleton as we walked up elegantly to the microphone.

"Well hello Halloween Town, and what a horrible morning it is, everyone!" Jack said enthusiastically. (Of course, dear reader, you know that in Halloween Land that horrible is the equivalent of wonderful in our world, so there's no need for that small explanation). When the clapping had ceased, he continued, "I've called you all here to make some announcements- he, ha, ha, hee!" Suddenly, Jack started to cackle.

"What's that about?" Sally thought aloud as she sat near her friend the Hanging Tree. It was never like Jack to laugh during his own meeting.

"He, he, hee…" Jack chortled and then said, "Ahem, first of all, I'd like to announce my resignation to the Halloween throne."

"WHAT?" The entire crowd shouted. Some members of the ghoulish group screamed or howled in sheer terror, some of them stood still in purification, and Sally was one of the monsters who gasped. Their great pumpkin king was resigning? It seemed so impossible.

Jack interrupted their terrible response with another. "And, he, he, s-second… ha, ha, ha!" Jack laughed and waited eagerly for the crowd to quiet down. He was laughing so very coarsely that he could hardly say anything, but at last he shouted, "April Fools!" Then he began a laughing fit anew. The crowd was so confused by that comment that they could hardly do anything but mutter to themselves until Jack spoke up again. "April Fools is a new holiday that I believe Halloween should try to celebrate," he explained. "All we have to do to celebrate it is prank one another with a joke. Now you've all been April fooled!"

No monster knew quite what to make of Jack's words and stayed very quiet, but then Sally started to laugh in the back of the hall. Her minor chuckles soon turned to a fit of great laughter. She realized that Jack had just fooled everyone in town into thinking that he was resigning his throne. It took a few moments after her understanding, but soon everyone else caught on and began to laugh as well.

"It's brilliant!" the Mayor shouted into his megaphone. "What a _horrible _holiday!"

The witches whistled to Jack, the wolf man howled a long, chuckling howl, and applause from every corner of the hall came to what remained of Jack's ears. The skeleton smiled and placed a bony finger to his chin. At least this time the town did not need an explanation for one of his delightful discoveries.

* * *

The meeting was over fairly quickly, as Jack had nothing other to announce than Halloween progresses and such. The monsters all left the Town Hall fairly delighted, leaving Jack alone backstage after the meeting. A sound in the hall caught him by surprise, for then he knew that someone else had stayed behind. "Hello?" he called curiously. Just then Sally emerged from the meeting room and came backstage toward Jack. "Oh, It's you Sally," Jack greeted her with a bony grin and held her hands in his own. "And what did you think of this April Fools Day meeting, my dear?"

Sally suddenly brushed Jack's hands away and gave him an angry glare. "Well Jack, I thought it was quite cruel of you to trick everyone like that. After all, we really took you seriously!"

"Oh," Jack replied with confusion. "Well, I'm sorry. I only meant it as a harmless little trick. You know I'd never leave my town behind."

"Do I?" Sally snapped and turned away from Jack. "Maybe I'm tired of these ridiculous things, Jack. Maybe I don't want to be around you all the time anymore."

"What?" Jack yelped uncharacteristically. If there was one thing that Jack was fearful of, it was losing lovely Sally. "Oh dear Sally, please forgive me! I never would've meant to hurt my people, especially not you," he pleaded and reached for her hand. It was a desperate attempt to catch her eyes and make her have a change of mind, but it was an utter failure as she refused to look at him. "Please Sally."

The rag doll stayed turned away from the skeleton, and did not look back at him, but a muffled sound began to come from her. It was something similar to crying or… laughing. At last, the girl turned in Jack's direction and laughed hysterically. It was very bizarre indeed, even for the king of strange and screams to watch. Then, after a breath of undead air, Sally declared, "April Fools!"

"Eh?" Jack muttered and thought about what Sally said. He then recognized the prank at hand and chuckled along. "So, you aren't leaving me then?"

Sally finished her laughing and once again took Jack's hands. "Oh Jack, you should know I'd never leave you."

"Do I?" Jack asked before gently pressing his lips to his rag doll girlfriend's. He had to admit one thing to himself. _I guess I'm lucky to have the smartest girl in Halloween._

**The End**


	2. Remnants of a Heart Drabbles

_Author's Note: I have decided to extend this story into a shorts and drabbles collection. This might not be easy, being that I don't write nearly as much "Nightmare" as I used to, but I'll try to add new chapters every now and then. Also, because of my lack of imagination, I'm open to request shorts._

_A couple bits to know about these drabbles: 1. I mention OCs here that belong to my little sister and I. Star, Tim, and Noel Skellington. 2. These were all created by turning my ipod on shuffle and writing what the song made me think. Clearly, "Nightmare" hasn't left my head completely, neh?_

_-Hoping to have these up on Pumpkin Patch soon,_

_S. Snowflake

* * *

  
_

_**Remnants of a Heart Drabbles**_

1. **I'll Never Change**

Inspired by the song, "My Strongest Suit" from _Aida_

Artist: Kaycee Stroh

Sally worked arduously in her fabric shop. She was working on a lovely dress for her vampiress friend. She smiled at the shimmering midnight blue fabric with spider web silk bordering. _That Elvira is lucky,_ she thought. _Then again, I could always make something like this for myself too._ She looked down at her patched dress and shook her head. _Nah, I'll never change._

* * *

2. **Lovely Eyes**

Inspired by the song "Finale/Reprise" from _The Nightmare Before Christmas_

Snow was so lovely. It glowed a faint blue everywhere in Halloween Town that Christmas Eve. It was a symbol of how much Jack loved Christmas. It was perplexing, yes, and somehow he couldn't ignore the spell. It was something in him, no, _them_. He had seen it in Sally's eyes too. That same love for Christmas gave her eyes a little glimmer. Now all he wanted to do was look into those lovely eyes again...

* * *

3. **Such a Lonely Fellow**

Inspired by the "Closing Poem" from _The Nightmare Before Christmas_

Santa smiled at Jack Skellington with his wife Sally and their three children Star, Tim, and Noel. He recalled when Jack had seemed such a lonely fellow and so unhappy with his life... or lack there of. But that old Pumpkin King's smile never wavered since...

* * *

4. **Remnants of a Heart**

Inspired by the song, "What's This?" from _The Nightmare Before Christmas_

What was it about the Christmas lights and sounds that were so endlessly attractive to Jack? They all glowed faint red and white hues on the glistening white snow. They were so beautiful, so different. God, how he loved every minute of it here in Christmastown. If there were remnants of a heart left in his chest, they were alive once more, filling him with bliss greater than he could contain. For once in a long time, he felt warm; warm beyond the curse of living death Halloween had bestowed on its people...

* * *

5. **Baby Star**

Inspired by the song, "You'll Be In My Heart"

Artist: Teddy Geiger

"I've never been one to know much about babies, Sally," Jack Skellington said to his rag doll wife when she passed him their newborn daughter Star.

"Neither do I, but all the better reason to learn now," she replied and handed him the tiny skeletal infant. "Relax, dear. Are you, the great Pumpkin King, afraid?"

Jack smirked, but he rocked the baby admittedly with nervousness. He stared intently into her half-closed eye sockets and grinned a bony grin. "So small, yet so inquisitive too."

She yawned and he chuckled...

* * *

6. **Fate**

Inspired by the song "End Duet/Transformation" from _The Beauty and the Beast Broadway Cast Album_

Sally wept a tiny tear as she lay on Oogie Boogie's torture table. She cried not for her grim fate, but for the fate that had already befallen Jack. He had only done what his heart misguided him to do, and had paid the ultimate price. Now he would never again grace their world with his existence. Now she would never be able to say the four words she wanted to say most, "I love you, Jack."

* * *

7. **Unique**

Inspired by the song, "No Matter What" from _The Beauty and the Beast Broadway Cast_

"Papa, do you think I'm odd?" Star asked her father after a day of jeering from her Halloween peers.

"Well, you're a Skellington. Of course you're going to be a little odd," Jack said and noticed her smile sinking. "What I mean is that you're special; unique!"

"Papa, you always say that," Star argued before her father patted her head and she felt slightly better.

* * *

8. **King Oogie**

Inspired by the song, "I'm your Boogie Man"

by KC and the Sunshine Band

Oogie Boogie enjoyed gambling so much that after he was banished to his dungeon he attempted to throw "casino parties" of his own. He would envision the scantily clad skeleton women in the corner and his ghoulish guests tossing the dice on the table. The craps table would be full of players, all eagerly squealing for another game. Alas, he had no longer that freedom, so he simply played games by himself. There were people he thought of. The rag doll that he lusted after of course, but mostly his hatred of Jack burned into his blackened, buggy heart.

"I will get you, Jack. I'll crush you, and turn this town into the Casinoville it could be. King Oogie WILL take power!!"

* * *

9. **Freedom Again**

Inspired by the song "Home" from _Beauty and the Beast_

Artist: Susan Egan

Sally looked around her room and sighed. The stone walls were like a prison, not a home. How she longed to be outside in the stale Halloween air again. For once in her entire life, she had felt free. She hated how the doctor incarcerated her because of it. Did he really think that she would just follow him everywhere and be his willing slave? No, not her. She vowed then and there to escape again. She would just have to try harder, think harder, and there would be freedom again...

* * *

10. **Sally's Spell**

Inspired by the song "I Miss You"

By Blink 182

Jack had to leave Halloweentown every now and then. It was his duty as a holiday leader to occasionally talk with the other kings about such things as the worlds' goings on. Still, he missed people in town; especially Sally. Her soft, warm, rag doll hands made him feel alive when they were entwined with his own, her huge, lovely eyes had him under a spell, and her rusty red yarn hair billowed before his eye sockets like a dream...


	3. Sleigh Ride

_**Sleigh Ride**_

It was a cold winter's day in Halloween Town. The clock on the Town Hall read, "January 27th, 277 days to Halloween" and chimed three times. All around there was a cool layer of snow and frost, making a powdery and slick pathway for the ghastly citizens. The unusual weather had lasted awhile since Christmas when Santa had first brought the gift of snow to Halloween, and most people of Halloween were still a little apprehensive of it. The mayor, especially, was resistant.

"I don't know how you can still stand it, Jack," the Mayor whined to his friend Jack, the skeleton Pumpkin King of Halloween. His pessimistic face showed as his body rattled from shivering in the cold. "Snow is alright on Christmas, but the rest of the year it's just plain…c-cold-d."

Jack chuckled, his jawbone just barely clattering against his skull. "Appreciate this while we have it, my friend. Before Sandy Claws came, we never had snow here in Halloween Town."

_And what a relief it was, _the Mayor thought to himself. "Well, I suppose. You look like you wouldn't have to worry about chilling yourself to the bone though, Jack."

Jack looked over his outfit, with a long orange and black scarf, a pair of green earmuffs, and a new coat of black, then nodded. "Sally's worried that I'll freeze to the next life. She's always making me something new. Right, Zero?"

Zero, Jack's little ghost dog, zoomed out through a nearby wall, wearing a new, warm collar around his neck. "Arf!" he barked in response to his master.

"Hm, quite attached to that rag doll now, aren't you, Jack?" the Mayor asked, his face turning 'round to his happier version with a small smile.

Jack shrugged shyly. "Yes, well, things certainly haven't been the same since Christmas Eve between us." He glanced at the clock to avoid the conversation that he and his friend were having. "Would you look at the time? I have to go meet Sally now!"

"Oh, really?" The Mayor's face changed back to a sad one. "Well, it was simply _horrible_ talking to you, Jack."

"You too, Mayor," Jack replied, with Halloween sincerity and waved his skeleton hand goodbye before walking over to the gateway to his manor. He walked up the slippery cobblestone pathway, then up the creaky Halloween steps to his own door with the eyeball-painted handle. Zero simply followed, phased through the walls, and floated at Jack's feet.

"Sally? Are you here?" Jack called, his voice carrying down the old, haunted hallways.

"I'm in the library, Jack," came a slightly weak, female echo from deep within the house.

Jack followed the voice and ran, almost like a child would, into the study area with Zero racing him to the door. He smiled a skeleton grin as he creaked open the door like a haunt might do in the middle of the night, then tiptoed inside, nearly slithering over to the old armchair where a lovely rag doll covered in stitches sat, reading over a spellbook. Her huge eyes batted gracefully just as Jack sucked in an undead breath and she turned around to meet his frightening face.

"Hello, Jack," she said. "Trying to scare me again?"

Jack frowned, his monstrous smile disappearing. "It takes most humans years to get used to my frightening charms, and you're immune after one month."

Sally smiled. "-And I know you more than any people ever will." She leaned over to kiss Jack's bony cheek and hummed with delight. "Now, what is it you've come back so early for?"

Jack smiled. "I was thinking about a little trip, for just us two. What do you say?"

Sally looked out one of the manor's broken windows. "On a day like today? Brr! It's too cold to go outside."

Jack tugged at the rag doll's arm. "Nonsense, Sally. It's lovely weather for what I have in mind."

Sally sighed and placed the book back on the shelf. "All right, but just for a little while, Jack."

* * *

Sally's huge eyes appeared to grow as wide as saucers when she saw what Jack had hidden behind the town hall. There sat a reconstruction of Jack's coffin sleigh, but just a bit wider for two ghouls instead of one, with bone and metal treads. In the lead were two of the skeleton reindeer left from Jack's Christmas incident, each with staples and bandages on their rattling bones.

"They won't be flying again for some time, Sally, but they can still pull the sleigh on the ground," Jack said. "You want to try it out?"

"Oh, Jack, I…" She paused and smiled at the skeleton. "Yes!"

_Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,_

_Ring-ting-ting-a-ling too,_

_Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you…_

Jack cracked the reins after Sally jumped in snugly by his side. The reindeer jerked their skulls forward and began their ghoulish trotting as Zero zoomed ahead of them, his glowing nose leading the way. The dog whined and the reindeer's bones began to chatter faintly as a shower of new snow fell down upon the sleigh.

Sally giggled as the snowflakes built up on her large eyelashes. She waved when she saw the corpse and mummy children playing in the snow as the sleigh left the main portion of town to go into the pumpkin patch.

_Outside the snow is falling_

_And friends are calling, "you-hoo"_

_Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you…_

As they passed through the endless stretch of frozen pumpkin plants with their spiraling tendrils standing in mid air, the reindeer reared back a little and jolted the sleigh. As the team headed into heavier snowdrifts, they sleigh bumped up and down like something from a rodeo. Jack and Sally both cackled with ghoulish pleasure at it.

_Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up, let's go,_

_Let's look at the show_

_We're riding in a wonderland of snow._

_Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up, it's grand,_

_Just holding your hand._

_We're riding along with the song of the wandering fairyland…_

A large snowdrift made the sleigh rock heavily, and the ghoul lovers were jolted in their seats from the impact. The reindeer, frustrated with their inability to fly, pounced on their bony hind legs and pawed at the snow with their battered hoofs. Suddenly, the sleigh began to move upward and levitated magically in the air for a moment before landing in the snow with a graceful thud. Jack and Sally, shaken from the landing, ended up with their lips touching.

Sally blushed, her cheeks turning a faint purplish tint, and if Jack could blush, he likely would have been.

"So, have you enjoyed our little sleigh ride?" he finally asked.

Sally smiled and kissed Jack's cheek again. "I loved it."

_Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you._


	4. Don't Grow Up Yet, My Little Goblin

_**Don't Grow Up Yet, My Little Goblin.**_

**-A Nightmare Before Christmas Poem**

A cold Halloween day it was

When rag doll Sally gathered her children 'round because

They'd asked her again, like searching sleuths,

"Mother, mother, tell us the truth!

When will I grow up to be scary,

Like you and Papa do making mortals wary

Of their every step on Halloween,

Mama, when can I make the humans scream?"

OoO

Sally smiled a ghastly, ghostly grin

Such a smile would make any human cringe.

She was a fright, alive she was not,

And looked as if her body were to rot.

OoO

"My children," said she,

"Don't think of growing up with such glee.

You'll see it's not easy being so big.

Having to think so hard about your next gig,

Tricks and treats are no cups of tea.

Give it time and you'll see."

OoO

"But, Ma," interrupted the little skeleton Tim,

"When I get to be as big as Papa I can scare with my ghost grin!

I'm so little now, when can I grow up?

I feel like a fangless werewolf pup."

OoO

Star, the eldest child raised her hand and said,

"If we can't scare good then we're worse than dead.

Why live in Halloweentown when there's no thrill

Or chill in your bones; really, Mama, a chill!

We want to be ghoulish and scary like you,

To creak out of coffins and yell out, 'boo!'"

OoO

Noel, the youngest, made a sharp sound,

It was almost like the wail of a hunting hound.

A scream, maybe shriek so loud

It made her stand out from the crowd.

OoO

Sally but shook her head at the ghouls

The way they acted, they could be such fools.

"I tell you, listen, my kin,

Don't grow up yet, my little goblins.

One day you will all be as ghastly as you think you'll be,

Likely more, from what I can see.

You'll all be frights worse than I

You'll make the very ravens cry

In fear with your ghastliness…

But, I must not digress.

My darling frights, don't grow up yet,

Let time pass, and do not fret.

Some Halloween soon, you will find

That you're as scary as you wish if you open your mind."

She laid her cold, sticky lips to one monster's head

And smiled maternally, despite that she was dead.

OoO

Her children went off as their mother told them,

Waiting reluctantly for the day when

They too could be so bone chilling

The day was calling; to them it was killing,

But they knew that they could wait,

For mother was always right and great.

OoO

And one day, indeed, they became such frights,

The creatures that made sounds go bump in the nights.

They were fearsome and frightful, and caused such a scream…

But they still would dream

Of when they were children, and dream of their mother.

For mothers are the wisest among all others.

Such ghouls would cackle and grin,

Thinking the words, "Don't grow up, my little goblin."


	5. Sally Drabbles

_Author's Note: I'd like to thank my reviewers for this oneshot collection because you guys really do keep me going for writing these stories and quickwrites (or what we call drabbles). I will have a real oneshot later this month for this collection too instead of just drabbles like I've only been updating lately. Thank you, and enjoy!_

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

_**Sally Drabbles**_

**A Heart and Mind **

_Inspired by the song, "Birth to My Creation"_

_From "Frankenstein-A New Musical"_

The idea-where had it come from? Dr. Finkelstein would never be sure. She would be beautiful, and his. Only his. She became his obsession, his creation.

As he placed the scraps together, he smiled darkly. She would need a heart to feel for him in order for her to be his bride. She would also need a mind. But which one? Well, he wasn't picky, he chose one of the more intelligent brains for her, but nevertheless an unknown one. Where had he acquired this specimen? Surely such a fine brain wasn't a donation.

She would think. She would be independent…

* * *

**Bravery**

_Inspired by the song, "Suppertime Reprise"_

_From "Little Shop of Horrors"_

Oogie Boogie had a bluesy voice that was as menacing as it was disgusting. Strangely though, Sally was barely afraid of it. She had to be strong, or else the monster would just kill she and Sandy Claws, knowing she was a coward...


	6. The Only Christmas Present

_Author's Note: I've had this idea for some time. It's a oneshot about (who I think is anyway), my most important original character, Star Skellington._ _She was the focus of my first major project and the one who I owe my penname to (the snowflake has a significance in her story too). Also, there's a slight Christmas theme here, so I wish you all happy holidays with this!_

_*S. Snowflake

* * *

_

_**The Only Christmas Present**_

**-A Nightmare Before Christmas Story**

Clocks have a way of mocking those who listen to their ticking for a long time. Jack Skellington found himself annoyed as could be, waiting in the doctor's parlor that Christmas Eve, listening to the clock "tick-tocking" away. He tapped a skeleton foot on the floor, making another sound of hollow bones chattering against stone, as he tried to calm his nerves. The clock was just annoying. Jack stretched as he stood up from the creaky Halloween chair, cracking a few vertebrae and finger bones. He scratched his skull as he glanced upward, past the spiraling staircase and the laboratory door. He was waiting for the mad scientist, Dr. Finkelstein, to come out and tell him the news. He had hoped that this wouldn't have taken as long as it had.

Jewel, the Doctor's wife, watched him. She sighed a small sigh out of her duck bill-shaped mouth. "I'm sure everything is fine, Jack."

Jack turned around to face her. "Really? You think so? It all happened so quickly. Not to mention that I was in Christmas Town when I got the message." He closed his weary eye sockets and muttered, "Sally…"

"You both knew that it was close, didn't you?" she asked. "How early is it anyway, a week?"

"-Two and a half weeks early," Jack corrected. "That's not just a bit off track. What if something's wrong?"

Jewel stood up on her nimble, lovely legs. "Just try to calm yourself, Jack." She pushed the teapot resting on the table toward him. "More tea?"

Jack shook his head. "No, thank you." He saw the gingerbread bat cookies in the bowel nearby and snatched one of those. "Getting into the holiday spirit, eh?" he asked and took a bite. He winced, remembering how foul a cook Jewel was compared to Sally too late, but nevertheless ate the cookie.

"My dearest Doctor may not like Christmas that much, but I do." She opened the hatch on her cranium, exposing her half brain as she fingered it for thoughts of holidays. "There are some things I guess came from a side of his mind that he never knew about."

Jack nodded. He was used to the Finkelsteins scrambling their brains like that. It was their bad little habit. All this talk was distracting enough to make things less bothersome, but still Jack had to admit that he was nervous. The Pumpkin King, the master of fright, was afraid. It wasn't irrational or natural, but out of love. The one creature that held all that remained of his undead heart must have been in a great deal of pain at that moment. He still didn't understand all of these things, babies and how they were born, but he knew that Sally had to be in significant discomfort.

Then there was the child itself. How would it fare to be born early? How fit was he for the undertaking of raising a child? He had never been sure of the idea when Sally told him.

He took yet another bite of the awful cookie to banish those thoughts. Just then the metal, laboratory door slid open and slammed closed. The sound of Dr. Finkelstein's mechanic wheels could be heard from upstairs as well.

"Jack Skellington," he called almost softly in his advanced age.

Jack leaped up from his chair, nearly tossing the cookie at Jewel from excitement and nerves. He ran up the stairway to meet the doctor. His normally clammy, white skin appeared shaken, but almost rosy from the warmth within the laboratory.

"-Yes, Doctor?" Jack asked.

Dr. Finkelstein smiled an eerie, happy smile. "Come in, my boy. You want to see the baby, now don't you?"

Jack nodded. "Oh yes, Doctor. Very much."

The Doctor's chair reversed, then faced back into the laboratory. "Well, then come in, Jack! I can't be up all night."

Jack followed quietly into the mad scientist's laboratory. Beakers bubbled with strange green goo and little laboratory rats snored in little squeaky shrieks. It was a terrific place in Jack's mind. He hoped that Sally would feel better here, being that she had been created and raised in this laboratory.

Then he saw her. Sally was resting on the laboratory table with a sheet drawn over her. She looked dead beyond normality. Her eyes were a little sunken inward and her usually long, lovely hair was frizzled. She smiled over at Jack before waving to him.

"Hello, dear," she said.

"Hello, Sally," Jack replied, walking over to greet his wife. He kissed her cheek warmly. "So, where's the…"

Dr. Finkelstein emerged from the back room of the laboratory then. "Right here, my boy," he said, holding a blanket made of rags. "My, quite a quiet little one. I've never heard of a Halloween baby that didn't scream when it was born." He looked under the fold of cloth presumably covering the baby's head. "You must be very brave," he muttered to it before looking up at Jack and handing it over to him. "And congratulations. It's a girl."

Jack might have replied to that, but instead lifted the corner of the blanket to peek. There he was met with a pair of wide, gaping eye sockets that stared back at him through a tiny skull. A knotched smile crept up the child's face that reminded Jack of his own smile when he looked at Sally. On the top of the baby's head rested a small patch of ragged chestnut locks.

Jack stood still for awhile, gazing. Then the Halloween baby reached one of her tiny, skeleton hands up and grabbed her father's long, bony finger.

Jack smiled. "My, you _are_ brave."

Sally chuckled and reached up for the baby. "She just knows who her father is. There's nothing to be afraid of when you really get to know you." She smiled down at the newborn, watching her stare up at them.

Dr. Finkelstein watched the family, then realized that he was intruding and opened the laboratory door. "Excuse me. I have to see to Jewel."

The Skellingtons didn't mind though. They were too preoccupied with the little one to care.

"You are an odd one though. A Skellington that doesn't scream, and you were born on Christmas Eve," Sally said.

Jack laughed. "Odd indeed." He looked over to Sally. "So, what did you decide for a name?"

Sally grinned. "Last night, I looked up into the sky. I was thinking about you in Christmas Town when I saw a shooting star go by. It was so strange, out of place, but beautiful and different too. So, I made a wish, and now my wish is here." She looked down to the baby. "My Star. My little Christmas wish."

"_Our_ Christmas wish," Jack corrected, grinning a bony grin. "Do you like that name, Star?"

Star, though very young, seemed to nod and made a small sound at her father mentioning her name. Jack and Sally both shook their heads at their funny, brave little one, happy to see that their Christmas wish was granted. She was all they really needed for a present.

**The End.**


	7. Have Yourself an Oogie Little Christmas

_Author's Note: I am sorry that I haven't updated this collection. I looked on my computer and found some old files that I forgot to update a while back. *smacks head repeatedly* Anyway, I hope you guys haven't given up on me. I am trying to write more oneshots and sketches over the summer, this included. As for this poem, it's for all you Oogie Boogie lovers! He is such an awesome villain, isn't he?_

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

_**Have Yourself an Oogie Little Christmas**_

Have yourself an Oogie little Christmas

Keep rolling the dice

From now on your company

Won't be so nice.

xXx

Have yourself an Oogie little Christmas

Make the yuletide foul.

When you're screaming in pain,

Go and give a yowl.

xXx

Here we are, torture chamber chains,

Cries and shrieks of pain

And fear.

Oogie and his friends, a strange duet,

As they play roulette

With death.

xXx  
Through the games,

You may survive together,

If the dice rolls two.

Enjoying fear much greater than the cry of 'boo'

Then fall into my special snake and spider stew.

**The End.**


	8. Words Overheard Drabbles

**_Words Overheard Drabbles_**

**Words Overheard**

_Inspired by score from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"_

Jack blindly followed his heart to Oogie Boogie's lair. He had a hunch that those three brats Lock, Shock, and Barrel would have taken Sandy to his lair, but he had hoped that it was wrong. It was when he heard the shriek of a woman and the pitiful cry of an old man from beneath the tree house that he was most shocked and infuriated. How dare they do this? How dare that Oogie be so cruel to those he barely knew?

"This can't be happening!" Sandy Claws yelled. Jack was mortified by harming the old Christmas king.

"If only Jack was here," Sally sobbed. When Jack heard her say that, he felt so needed, even though he hardly knew the rag doll.

"But he isn't!" Oogie cackled within.

Jack crawled over to the window. One thing was for sure, Oogie was undead wrong this time!

* * *

**I Know it's Real**

Sally dreamed of dancing with some hansom prince while she was living in the lab. It was a dream that could never come true, and yet, it was so appealing. Twirling around and around sounded like heaven.

Little did she know that later on, she would have that little dream come true. Jack held her close, gently moving her from side to side in a dance. She had two left feet, and tripped over them often, but Jack didn't care. She closed her eyes and took in the moment, thinking that this dream might never come true again. She had learned how to store memories living as a servant. Jack's warmth and gentle hold kept her there as the chilly, Halloween air tickled and froze her back.

Jack leaned in close and whispered, "Do you feel like you're dreaming too?"

She opened her eyes and saw his sincerity. "No. I know it's real now."

* * *

**A Kiss on the Nose**

Even with everything working out alright for her, Sally sometimes felt a sense of melancholy these days. She shouldn't be feeling it, she thought. After all, she had a life that most monsters would kill for. She had Jack now and she was finally free of her creator. It was the memories of before that creeped up on her, she guessed.

Sometimes, she'd cry just thinking about before, feeling like a trapped animal, but then Jack would kiss her nose and it would all melt away.


	9. Two Parts Drabbles

**_Two Parts Drabbles_**

**Two Parts of the Same**

Inspired by the song, "One Hand, One Heart"

From the musical, "West Side Story"

Love was impossible to define. It was for the living and the dead, and whatever happened after that, he supposed. For when he stood in Town Hall with all the citizens of Halloween gathered 'round and saw his bride-to-be Sally walking toward him in a flowing gown that looked to be made of spider webs and moonlight, he knew that anything was possible.

He took her hand in his own skeletal ones and looked into her large, always lovely eyes. It was as if they were always meant to be this way. They had always been part of one hand, and of one heart, dead or alive as they may have been.

* * *

**The Witching Hour**

Inspired by the song, "Thriller"

By Michael Jackson

In the night, when Halloween Town was at the witching hour of 13, the monsters would practice their haunts. Any poor soul that wandered the streets at that time was no more than scare fodder. You would run from the things that bump in the night, and they would only stalk you further. There was no escape from terror once a monster had a haunting target.

Of course, no one had mastered the scare more than Jack Skellington, the king of Halloween Town. He was so rehearsed in his art that he could make himself appear from nearly any corner of the darkness whenever he wished. And all he had to do to scare the life out of a mortal was smile and give a ghastly cackle…

* * *

**The Endless Night**

Sometimes, a younger Jack Skellington would just sit out in the pumpkin patch, thinking about what had happened in his past and wondering why there was such a dark shadow over his memory that he could not see from underneath. He knew that he had once had a mother and father and that something terrible had happened to them, yet he could not remember what for the afterlife of him had happened. All he knew was that he felt somehow the blame for their end that he had some responsibility to take on for his people. Still, the night was so dark in his mind.

It was almost endless…

* * *

**Part of Your World**

Star Skellington knew that she was a lucky monster as the princess of Halloween, and yet, she never had what she really wanted. True, she would be grateful for just an ounce of Halloween talent, but what she really wanted was to see Christmas Land like her father had. All the bright lights and merry feeling of the holiday were attractive and so much of what she wanted to be too…


	10. Jack's Pursuit

_Author's Note: This was something that I sort of drew out from a drabble as well as a deleted scene from "Nightmare". If you've ever checked out that section of the DVD (which you should...the alternate identity of Oogie Boogie and Tim Burton's head being used as a hockey puck are pretty wild!) you'll remember the scene where Lock, Shock, and Barrel spy on Oogie torturing Sandy Claws and Sally. This scene is also described in books based on the movie, so I thought I'd give it a shot showing my version of it rfom Jack's point of view. I think I also like it because it really showed Sally's sadness at Jack's "death", which makes me just go nuts with fluffy angst._

_I'm also saying goodbye to this collection of shorts with this story. I'm almost certain that this won't be the last time I write something "Nightmare" related, but certainly for a while I'll be backing off on the fan fiction. Thank you to my reviewers and fellow fans!_

_*S. Snowflake._

* * *

**Jack's Pursuit**

Jack Skellington's undead heart was flying with a newfound exhilaration as he ran towards Oogie Boogie's lair. That recovery from being shot down from the sky was strangely enlightening and gave him a new sense of being, and yet somehow he knew that Mr. Claws was in danger rather than on the vacation that he had hoped he would be. He had a hunch that Lock, Shock, and Barrel had taken Sandy to their master's lair, but he still held onto a hope that he was wrong. But when he was at the bridge to their treehouse and heard the shrieks of a woman and an elderly man from Oogie's lair, he knew that his suspicions were correct.

_How dare those brats do this against their king's very orders?_ he wondered, _And how could that Oogie be so cruel?_

"This can't be happening!" cried the voice of the older man that Jack knew was Sandy Claws.

"Hang onto _that_ thought, Sandy," Oogie Boogie's deep voice mocked.

Three young voices giggled devilishly, and Jack looked down beneath the bridge. Lock, Shock and Barrel were there, hanging from a sort of elevator device they used to get into their tree house. Being the expert of terror that he was, Jack knew what to do, and he silently slunk down the rope that tethered the elevator.

"If only Jack was here!" wailed the female voice from the lair Jack had heard earlier.

"-But he isn't, _ever_!" cackled Oogie. "Skeleton Jack is a pile of dust."

And the woman's voice whimpered, and Jack recognized who it was.

_That's Sally!_ he thought, _But why does Oogie think that I'm dead?_ He paused to think, but then recognized the advantage of surprise that gave him. What a better way to sneak up on the foe than to return from the next life?

Lock, Shock, and Barrel kept up their evil cackling, and Jack put on his most frightening grin possible. The children looked up in shock before Jack smiled, using his signature bone rattling trick and muttering, "Happy Halloween!"

The children fled in terror. Normally Jack would have felt guilty about using such tricks on children, but these kids had certainly crossed the line enough to deserve a good scare.

He closed in on the entrance to his enemy's lair, listening to poor Sandy and Sally trapped inside, being tortured.

This was why he had banished Oogie Boogie from Halloween Town. He was a monster who was truly dangerous, not just playing for a good scare. He had been merciful once by sparing his life, but now he knew that he would have to finish the monster off once and for all.

"If only Jack was here," Sally repeated desperately just before Jack saw the scene. Oogie's mechanical wizardry had turned his underground prison into an even greater casino of doom than he remembered, including a great pit of boiling snake and spider stew with rotating blades in the center of a giant roulette-wheel-like structure where Sandy and Sally were dangling over. If he didn't hurry, they'd be boiled alive!

Subconsciously, Jack wanted so badly to comfort Sally and assure her that she would soon be safe. It made him feel so angry but also encouraged to fight for her and for Sandy Claws as well.

Oogie turned and smiled smugly to the rag doll who bravely spoke her mind to the terrifying monster. "But he isn't!"

As Jack prepared for the fight of his afterlife, he actually smiled. One thing was certain, and that was that Oogie was undead wrong this time.

**The End.**


End file.
